Comments on: Overcome by Events http://views.eaglepeakpress.com/2010/01/30/overcome-by-events/ Seeing things as they really are, without the illusions or delusions Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:19:53 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Jack http://views.eaglepeakpress.com/2010/01/30/overcome-by-events/comment-page-1/#comment-3254 Jack Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:14:11 +0000 http://views.eaglepeakpress.com/?p=263#comment-3254 I had meant to get back to that topic as well, but perhaps while under the weather with my own health issues I forgot. I see a variety of causes for the increase in costs--some of which should indeed be part of the consideration with health care reform. I alluded to bang for the buck. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines may cost in the neighborhood of $2 million last I heard. Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT or now more often just CT) isn't cheap either. To amortize the expense, the machines have to get plenty of use, whether needed or not. The costs of medical school have risen dramatically (so have other professional schools--my law school charges current students about 12 times as much as they charged me near the end of the 1970s). Everyone wants the newest and best drugs (although those often are not the same thing) which cost more. Unfortunately too, part of the reason for our getting less bang for the buck is the fact that as a nation, we are more sedentary, more obese and otherwise engage in less healthful eating, drinking and other habits than we used to decades ago. So what does this all mean for health reform? A recognition that the newest (and most expensive) is not necessarily the best. Eat and exercise more sensibly so we don't have to have doctors bail us out of our self-initiated ailments. Those are just starters. I had meant to get back to that topic as well, but perhaps while under the weather with my own health issues I forgot. I see a variety of causes for the increase in costs–some of which should indeed be part of the consideration with health care reform. I alluded to bang for the buck. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines may cost in the neighborhood of $2 million last I heard. Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT or now more often just CT) isn’t cheap either. To amortize the expense, the machines have to get plenty of use, whether needed or not. The costs of medical school have risen dramatically (so have other professional schools–my law school charges current students about 12 times as much as they charged me near the end of the 1970s). Everyone wants the newest and best drugs (although those often are not the same thing) which cost more. Unfortunately too, part of the reason for our getting less bang for the buck is the fact that as a nation, we are more sedentary, more obese and otherwise engage in less healthful eating, drinking and other habits than we used to decades ago. So what does this all mean for health reform? A recognition that the newest (and most expensive) is not necessarily the best. Eat and exercise more sensibly so we don’t have to have doctors bail us out of our self-initiated ailments. Those are just starters.

]]> By: Robert Patton http://views.eaglepeakpress.com/2010/01/30/overcome-by-events/comment-page-1/#comment-3251 Robert Patton Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:41:28 +0000 http://views.eaglepeakpress.com/?p=263#comment-3251 Like everyone else Jack, you discuss healthcare without examining the problem. The trip to the ER you described a few months ago would have cost about $25 in 1960. Adjusting for inflation that would be about $250 in current dollars. How much did the hospital charge for your visit? Most people who go to the ER don't even know what the charges are. Why has the cost of healthcare gone through the roof? Nobody wants to address that fundamental question. Instead they treat it as a given and only discuss who should pay the bill. That doesn't make sense to me. What do you think? Like everyone else Jack, you discuss healthcare without examining the problem. The trip to the ER you described a few months ago would have cost about $25 in 1960. Adjusting for inflation that would be about $250 in current dollars. How much did the hospital charge for your visit? Most people who go to the ER don’t even know what the charges are.

Why has the cost of healthcare gone through the roof? Nobody wants to address that fundamental question. Instead they treat it as a given and only discuss who should pay the bill.

That doesn’t make sense to me. What do you think?

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